In the last COMM101 lab with Juan, he showed us an episode on Dragon’s Den – a popular reality tv series where entrepreneurs appeal to investors to kickstart their business. This reminded me of an episode of Dragon’s Den that I watched back in my highschool marketing class where two students, HongWei Liu and Desmond Choi developed an indoor navigation system. We discussed briefly in class about the hardest part of starting a business and the majority of the class said that thinking of a unique idea was the hardest part.

This episode of Dragon’s Den was the “Students Special” episode and this company was one of the best that came out of the show. At the end of the video, Desmond and HongWei managed to partner up with three of the five dragons. However, when I did some research on the company, they actually rejected the partnership after the show and partnered with Esri Canada instead. Choosing the right partners is very important for a company as it will affect the future and success of the company. We learned in class about key partners in the business model canvas. Desmond and HongWei should also not get too comfortable with their current success and continue to innovate to stay ahead of their competitors.

You’ve watched the movie “The Internship”. You’ve used this search engine all your life. The truth of the matter is that EVERYONE wants to work for GOOGLE. The recent lecture by Ms Danielle about Zappo and organizational culture reminded me of a video I watched a few years back on Google’s beautiful office and working environment which led me to writing this blogpost.

So what are the benefits of having an organizational culture? It will build a strong relationship between employees and provide a sense of identity so employees feel more involved in an organization. It is extremely important for the members in any organization to be united and have shared values/beliefs. This will consequently lead to productivity and marketability.

Similar to Zappo and how they provide a healthy and active working environment for its employees, Google provides healthcare, free food, insurance, and plenty of other benefits. Though this might cost a company more, I believe that it is worth it. Google’s organizational culture is extremely beneficial for the company. It will develop loyal and reliable employees, low turnover rates and the company will develop a strong reputation. This is why Google is the number one company that everyone wants to work for.

Now that I have your attention, today’s post will be regarding a fellow classmate’s blog on McDonald’s innovation. First of all, I would like to give props to Peter Milobar for such a catchy title for his blogpost that really got me interested in reading what he has to say.

The gist of this blogpost is that McDonald’s is testing a new flavour – guacamole in its burgers. In fact, there are already stores that offer a guacamole burger in Denver, Colorado. Peter argues that this is not a good move by Mcdonald’s as it costs a lot of time and money. He also mentioned that McDonald’s should focus on just basic fast-food burgers to avoid confusing consumers.

Peter gave some great points but at the end of the day, isn’t business all about risk taking? I believe that this move by McDonald’s will be a great attempt in developing another value proposition and perhaps outdo its competitors such as Chipotle and so on. Recently, McDonald’s sales have decreased and this led to stocks falling. Over the years, McDonald’s have dominated the fast food industry. By testing this new flavour, it is able to appeal to a larger consumer segment and re-gain its market share.This innovation will also be a huge point of difference for McDonald’s and if it works out, McDonald’s will experience a huge increase in sales, stocks and will continue to dominate the fast food industry.

and perhaps one day, we will see this advertisement in a store in UBC.

Here is a video on the burger!

 

This blogpost is regarding a classmate and friend’s blogpost (Arisha Shory)

In her blogpost, Arisha mentioned how Shell celebrated their 30th anniversary by reducing gas prices to $39.9 cents just like how it was back in 1984. This attracted a ton of customers when they announced the promotion on their Twitter page. I found her blogpost very interesting and relatable as this is a common sight back home in Malaysia. Whenever gas prices are about to go up, you would see a HUGE lineup at gas stations all over the country the day before the price increase.

One point that I strongly agree with Arisha is when she mentioned how this move by Shell is a great marketing strategy and it will definitely strengthen brand image. However, I would like to add that this is not a sustainable competitive advantage. Gas, being such a basic commodity has a very inelastic demand. This means to generate higher revenues and profits, gas companies have to increase their prices. We discussed in class about profitability and it is calculated by the equation:

Return on asset = Profit/Average total asset

This is a good move by Shell in a marketing point of view but it is not profitable. Recently, the price of gas has dropped. This price drop has already taken its toll on gas companies. If Shell would have dropped their prices even more for marketing purposes, it will kill the company with the decrease in profits.

Apple is definitely growing larger and larger and they are trying to dominate the entire technology market. This is why Apple reached an all time high in stocks growth this past week.

Recently, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook announced the revolutionary new payment system called Apple Pay and it EXPLODED in sales. There are already over a million activations since the introduction of the e-payment system. Based on the business model canvas we discussed in class, Apple’s key partners are major banks and large retail stores which is a brilliant move to enter the e-payment market. The full news report can be seen here.

We also discussed about PoP and PoD in class and this move by Apple is definitely a strong point of differentiation. This sets Apple apart from other tech companies and it helps to generate larger profits as they enter a new market. Apple Pay being so successful is a huge threat for existing e-payment companies such as Paypal. With McDonald’s recent partnership with Apple to allow customers to purchase Big Macs and Quarter Pounders with their Apple devices, Paypal quickly made plans with Burger King and several other companies to avoid falling behind. We discussed in class how the market is always changing and businesses are always innovating. Scott also mentioned that, “if a business is successful today, they might not be in the same position in 10 years time”.

 

 

BC Hydro is a provincial crown corporation that supply electricity to meet demands in British Columbia.

Their next project is HUGE.

The project is called BC Hydro’s Site C Hydroelectric Megaproject and it costs approximately $8 billion CAD (Vancouver Sun, 2014). This project has the potential to generate revenue for the company.

Positive effects of building this dam:

•  Able to generate revenue for the corporation.
• Able to produce enough electricity to power up to 450 000 homes in BC.

Negative effects of building this dam:

• Destroy farmland.
• Destroy wildlife habitat.

So, what is stopping BC Hydro from going forward with the project?

They are having issues with the First Nations People because of several reasons:

1. Negatively affect fishing and hunting opportunities.
2. First Nation practices and ceremonies will be affected.

According to a PEST analysis, this problem falls into the “political” factor.

BC Hydro is unable to carry on with the project because they are violating government policies, or more specifically, First Nation policies. This holds the business back.

I would suggest that BC Hydro look elsewhere to build their dam because the land that they are planning to flood is home to the ancestors of this province. A precise PEST analysis should be done to ensure a smooth and efficient project.

Workcited

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/site-c-recommendation/article18565850/

https://www.bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/projects/site_c.html

Clay Christensen’s approach to marketing is very fascinating.

In his post, he talks about how people “hire” a product to accomplish a specific task or job for them. For example, we would hire a muffin to keep us full or a glass of beer to keep our thirst quenched.

The word “hire” is a great word to use in marketing, specifically in determining a consumer segment of a market. A great product is a product that is able to GET THE JOB DONE.

Clay gave an example of a restaurant that sells milkshakes. The restaurant wanted to increase sales; so they tried to switch up the flavours and so on but nothing happened. They then proceeded to observe and analyse when consumers normally purchase the milkshake and why. Surprisingly, the main job that these consumers want to accomplish is to fill their stomachs until 10am and to keep them entertained during the long train ride. The restaurant then increased their sales significantly by creating thicker milkshakes.

Business is all about creating a product or service that is able to satisfy consumer’s wants and needs which leads to PROFIT. Despite how simple this theory sounds, it is very difficult to determine what job/task that consumers want to accomplish. It requires research of past data, setting up focus groups, etc.

HOWEVER, if a company is able to determine what their product will be hired for, they are GOLDEN. This information can then be used in marketing, advertising and so on. It will be the company’s Unique Selling Proposition.

Link to the original blogpost: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6496.html

 

If you haven’t heard the news or seen people on Facebook changing their profile pictures into a yellow band, you must be living under a HUGE rock.

There is currently a huge protest going on in HongKong called “Occupy Central”. The citizens of this beautiful country are fighting for democracy. They do not want China to determine who can be a candidate in the upcoming 2017 elections (BBC 2014).This is by far one of the biggest protests that ever happened in HongKong.

HongKong is one of, if not the largest free market economies in the world. Due to this protest, stocks and the flow of money has slowed down tremendously. This is a huge problem for investors and shareholders all around the world who have placed money into the Chinese market because they can do one of two things:

• Dump/keep their stocks

Which will lead to one of two outcomes:

• If the protest goes on for much longer or get worse, the stockmarket might crash and this might affect the WORLD’s economy negatively because China is such a strong influence in the marketplace.
• If the world dumps all their stocks, the same problem will happen. Stocks drop, world economy affected, might lead to recession/depression.

Let’s give our full support to HongKong and hope that the situation will soon be resolved.

Workcited

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2014/09/29/stocks-monday/16418841/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29054196

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102045300#.

Everyone knows about it.
Everyone is excited about it.

The wait is finally over.

Everyone wants to get their hands on the brand new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

 

Apple finally introduced their long awaited product and made it available for pre-order before the official release date on September 19th.
According to Toronto Sun, pre-orders for the brand new phone hit a record of 4 million dollars, twice as much as the pre-orders for the iPhone 5 two years ago (Toronto Sun, 2014). I believe Apple’s  marketing strategy is the key to the success of their products. The specs of the new iPhone is actually mediocre compared to phones from other companies such as the Nexus and Samsung Galaxy S5 but Apple market their products so exclusively that the iPhone becomes almost a luxury good. Another key to the success of the new iPhone is the introduction of two versions of the phone at the same time – iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus. There are very small differences between these two versions (screen size, thickness, resolution, etc). The price difference between the two is only a few hundred dollars.

This can greatly increase revenue for Apple because they can appeal to consumers in 3 different ways:

a) Tech fanatics would buy both just for comparison or collection.
b) With the small difference in price, consumers might think “Oh, its just a few hundred dollars more and I get a bigger and better phone”.
c) With one version of the phone being sold at a higher price, it gives an illusion that the iPhone 6 is much cheaper than the iPhone 6 Plus.

So that is my take on why the iPhone 6 is so successful. Thanks for reading!

Links:

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/15/apple-receives-record-iphone-6-pre-orders

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Apple-iPhone-6,Google-Nexus-5/phones/8346,8148

http://www.apple.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Ethics & Its Importance in Business

What are ethics?

It is one’s judgement about what is right or wrong.

In our lives, we are faced with ethical dilemmas.

 

What is being ethical?

It is to do what is right when facing an ethical dilemma.

 

In today’s blogpost, we will look at one of the biggest schemes ever committed.

 

 

Bernard Madoff is well known as a master Ponzi schemer (BBC 2014).

Ponzi? Is that some type of Japanese sauce?

 

NO, that is Ponzu.        

 

A Ponzi scheme explained very simply, is when an individual from an organisation give returns to investors with money invested by other investors rather than the actual dividend earned from the investment.

 

Although this sounds like a genius idea to achieve my dreams of becoming a millionaire before the age of 30, it is a very UNETHICAL thing to do. It is deceptive and manipulative.

 

 

Madoff stole BILLIONS of dollars from his clients.

 

He mentioned, “It starts out with you taking a little bit, and before you know it, it snowballs into something big” (BBC 2014).

 

 

What goes around, comes around. 

Madoff was turned in by his sons and was sentenced to 150 years of prison time (Bloomberg 2008).

 

Ethics are extremely important for a business organisation. We must make ethical decisions and practice good ethics to develop a good reputation among our clients and investors.  This will develop a good relationship between the client and the organisation, which will ultimately lead to: PROFIT.

And as we all learned in Sauder, the sole purpose of doing business is to eventually make a profit. So start being ETHICAL today!

 

Thank you for reading!

-James Lau Jun Yee (9/9/2014)

 

Workcited

Images hyperlinks:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/03/0311_madoff/2.htm

http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=109880

http://imotwom.wikia.com/wiki/File:FACEPALM.png

Web sources (Information):

Borzykowski, Bryan. “The Slippery Slope of Getting Away with Small Stuff.” BBC Capital. BBC, 7 Aug. 2014. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.

“Definition of Ponzi Scheme in English:.” Ponzi Scheme: Definition of Ponzi Scheme in Oxford Dictionary (British & World English). N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

Levisohn, Ben. “How to Make a Madoff.” Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 16 Dec. 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.